United States Patent and Trademark Office >>
As manufacturers look for ways to increase the battery’s energy density and extend the time between charges – or in the case of electric vehicles, range - the trend is towards installing higher capacity packs made up of large stacks of battery cells.
What is more, to reduce weight and overall cost these packs are often incorporated into the device or EV’s frame, making the replacement of a single defective module, or even failing cell, prohibitively expensive.
StoreDot’s patent for the innovative management of large stacks of battery cells optimizes performance and battery life whilst offering manufacturers an alternative to the costly and/or impractical early repair or replacement of these battery packs, through an optimized management system that also allows for the incorporation of supplementary cells.
StoreDot’s patent describes methods and systems to optimize the management and operation of a large number of battery cells, some, most or all of which are fast charging cells configured to be chargeable at least at 5C, and possibly arranged in battery modules such as found in electric vehicle power trains.
Applying StoreDot’s innovative management system, an operation profile for the battery cells/ modules is derived for a specific operation scenario and optimization performance parameters. Applying the profile and monitoring the operation of the battery cells/modules, the performance is optimized by continually adjusting the operation profile as required.
Furthermore, systems may be configured to balance cell/module parameters between modules, to include parallel supplemental modules and/or serial supplementary cells in the modules that can be utilized to supplement or substitute any failing cells or modules.
By applying the appropriate redundancy management, battery performance and lifetime can be improved by configuring the supplemental modules and circuits to store excessive charging energy for cells and/or modules, thereby increasing the cycling lifetime and potentially the efficiency of the systems.
By applying these methods manufacturers not only optimize the cell’s performance but also the lifespan of the battery pack. What is more, in applications such as “cell-to-chassis” being developed for EVs, a single supplementary cell or module in a large stack of battery cells could allow continued operation of the vehicle without the expense and complexity of having to replace the entire pack integrated into the vehicle’s frame.
